Last week a poll (taken in Feb.) revealed a surprising lack of knowledge by younger adults about the shape of the Earth -- flat vs. round (spherical).
Only 66% of those in the age range of 18 to 24 consider the Earth round, with and additional 7% of them unsure; 94% for those 55 and older, with 2% unsure.
Here are the results of the poll.
Given the roots (1 of 2) to this forum (ie
Bad Astronomy), I would like to do a Bullet listing of the lines of evidence against the Flat Earth hypothesis that has, well, fallen flat and with a big thud.
Since I couldn't find another thread like this, I will attempt to amend this OP to produce the bullet list, though I know there are time limits on edits. If editing is a problem, I will do a new thread to show a summary of this one.
Also, it might be fun to speculate on why the younger crowd seems confused on this topic. I was watching Gutfeld's show, when he raised this topic. He is convinced the Earth is not flat because of all the garbage we still have since we have no edge to throw it off.
Arguments against a Flat Earth:
1) Images from space.
2) No edge found.
3) Traveling along any latitude will return you to the same place, though this trip is expensive.
4) Traveling a great circle route is faster and shorter.
5) Coriolis effect
6) Gravity will cause a sphere to form.
7) All other planets are round, including the smaller dwarf planets.
8) Ship's masts are seen first at the horizon. Clouds are lower on the horizon than expected.
9) Cloud tops during sunset will go into the shadow of other, more distant, clouds sooner than expected.
Arguments favoring a Flat Earth:
1) It looks flat when standing on the ground.